If you're looking for ways to spice up your next dinner party, you don't have to rely on dazzling your guests with an elaborate meal, fanciful decorations and exciting entertainment. Instead, just give them something to talk about by cooking with affordable flowers!
The concept of adding flowers to food as an ingredient or garnish is hardly new. In fact, the Romans used blooms in some of their dishes, as did Chinese and Indian cultures. Even western societies used flowers as vibrant additions to meals, especially during the Victorian age. According to Epicurean.com, Primrose Day, which took place during Queen Victoria's reign, was celebrated with "a fanciful recipe for fairy cups [that] called for a peck of flowers pounded with ladyfingers, three pints of cream, sixteen eggs and a little rosewater, buttered and baked with sugar on top." Sounds good, doesn't it?
Each type of edible flower has its own particular taste, which makes it appropriate for certain dishes. If you're thinking of adding a unique garnish to your dinner party meal, it's important to do your research before conducting taste tests with various blooms. Some flowers are poisonous, so it's never a good idea to consume a blossom without knowing all the details. Here are a few flowers you might want to nibble on in the meantime.
Carnations
Believe it or not, these simple flowers can be surprisingly sweet. Just cut off the white tips of the petals (which are bitter), then add them to fruit salads, steep them in wine or use them as cake decorations.
Daisies
These perky blooms are tasty in salads, but it's important to use only the tender petals, which pack the most punch. They also make a great garnish and the buds can even be pickled and used in place of capers.
Day lilies
According to What's Cooking America, these flowers have a slightly sweet, vegetable-like taste similar to sweet lettuce or melon. To use them in dishes, cut off the bitter white base of the petals and sprinkle them in salads or garnish cakes with them. Just be sure not to eat too much, as they tend to mimic laxatives if too much is ingested.
Lavender
These fragrant blooms have a sweet flavor with notes of citrus. They make a nice garnish to a glass of champagne or a sorbet, and they work well with cooked meats or mixed salads.
Lilacs
Fragrant and slightly bitter, these aromatic blooms work well in salads and can be folded into cake batter or used as a dessert topping when crystallized with sugar and beaten egg whites.
There's no question that including flowers in your next dinner party meal will enchant your guests. What kinds of dishes would you add them to?